BANGKOK, 6 May, 2015—Morningstar Research (Thailand) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, has been appointed by the Association of Investment Management Companies (AIMC) to monitor the sector classification of investment funds. The appointment is effective from 1st May 2015.

 Morningstar will review the portfolio holdings of approximately 800 funds on a quarterly basis against the AIMC’s monitoring criteria and alert the AIMC regarding funds whose holdings fail to meet AIMC’scategory requirements.

“We have appointed Morningstar because of its solid experience in portfolio collection and its proprietary analysis of portfolio holdings data worldwide,”VoravanTarapoom, chairperson of the Association of Investment Management Companies, said. “The use of portfolio holdings to help categorize funds will provide a rigorous and objective process to group funds for more accurate comparisons and consistent analysis to help investors fully understand their investments.”

Through efforts of the Securities and Exchange Commission and AIMC, fund companies in Thailandare now required to provide investors a fund performance report, prepared by Morningstar, which outlines peer group performance of funds within their AIMC categories at points of sale. AIMC has also reduced the number of categories from 112 to 32 to ensure funds are compared within meaningful categories. As of 1^st July 2015, funds will be required to disclose portfolio holdingsto the public quarterly, which will increase transparency and provide investors with more recent information to help them make investment and portfolio decisions.

“With increased foreign exposure and the use of complex securities, it has become challenging for investors to deduce an appropriate classification and thereby make meaningful comparisons between funds. We are pleasedthat the AIMCappointed Morningstar to help with the initiative, which greatly aids investors in making informed investment decisions and aligns with our mission of helping investors reach their financial goals,” Anthony Serhan, managing director of research strategy for Morningstar in Asia-Pacific, said.

Morningstar provides a similar service in the United Kingdom for the Investment Management Association. More information is available here. As of Dec. 31, 2014, Morningstar tracks approximately 183,500 open-end mutual funds globally.

About Morningstar Research (Thailand) Limited and Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar Research (Thailand) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary ofMorningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar provides data on approximately 500,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 15 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries and had more than U.S.$179 billion in assets under advisement and management as of March 31, 2015. The company has operations in 27 countries.

Morningstar expanded to Asia in April 2000 and has grown its businesses into Japan, Korea, India, mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The Asia operations not only offer timely information on mutual funds and ETFs, but also insightful and independent analyses, unbiased fund ratings, and sophisticated analytical tools to help both individual and professional investors make better investment decisions.

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